By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Naira performed woefully on Thursday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), which is the official market, by losing 11.7 per cent or N155.10 against the US Dollar to sell for N1,329.65/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,484.75/$1.
However, the Naira appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the spot market yesterday by N239.52 to wrap the session at N1,524.52/£1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,764.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency improved by N203.95 to quote at N1,297.43/€1 versus N1,500.58/€1.
Data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that the day’s turnover decreased by 30.0 per cent or $100.13 million to $235.76 million from the $336.54 million recorded in the previous trading session.
The weakening of the domestic currency against the greenback indicates a very challenging May for the Naira after the gains recorded in April 2024. This decline has been attributed to a shortage of Dollars occasioned by the repatriation of funds by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).
In the parallel market, the local currency gained N5 against its American counterpart on Thursday to trade at N1,485/$1, in contrast to midweek’s value of N1,490/$1.
As for the digital currency market, most of the tokens tracked by Business Post ended in the red territory, though Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to trade at $68,536.90. Analysts attributed this to critical drivers such as inflation.
Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.9 per cent to sell at $0.16, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.1 per cent to settle at $166.94, and Cardano (ADA) went down by 1.4 per cent to $0.4482, Ripple (XRP) dropped by 1.2 per cent to trade at $0.5203, Ethereum (ETH) lost 0.6 per cent to finish at $3,755.02, Binance Coin (BNB) shrank by 0.5 per cent to trade at $594.17, and Litecoin (LTC) recorded a 0.3 per cent depreciation to close at $84.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.